Would you be able to provide some links to information on this?
I've seen several. Keep in mind with Steam being the big fish in the small pond that is the digi stores, they're also a big target for hacking, fraud and other issues that may not actually be the owner of the account's fault. And their current stance seem to be disable/ban now, ask questions later.
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1275429
Hello Voniazmogis, Thank you for contacting Steam Support. We have found activity in the Steam account related to fraudulent credit card use. Per the Steam Subscriber Agreement, we have disabled the account and any games contained in it. The account will not be reactivated. The Steam Subscriber Agreement can be found at: http://www.steampowered.com/v/index....iber_agreement In addition to violation of contract, said activities on the account may violate state and federal law. Valve reserves the right to refer the matter to the appropriate authorities.
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This sounded like some sort of gift giving fraud issue, and they did not remove just the games involved, the entire account was banned.
I should mention my own personal issue with Valve Customer No Service. After three months of trying to retrieve an old account, which should have been deleted but was still somehow died to one of my e-mail accounts so I couldn't create a new one with the same e-mail, I created a new one. I had the old one for a beta of some sort, no paid content but dear god, dealing with those folks was a joke. They'd send me a new reset password every three days that still didn't work. And at the time, they had no phone support. I have zero confidence in their csr, so the ban first check things out later is certainly not okay with me. (once again people I have a total of 10 dollars paid to Valve... so me being a steam member doesn't necessarily equate to me liking the service).
I mean I could fill pages with links of people who had their accounts banned or "disabled" for things like hacked games, cheats, VAC violations, chargebacks (of any kind), payment methods that don't go through properly (I think some of these can be reinstated). I have no love for cheaters, believe me. I am not sure someone caught cheating in MW2 should have their $2,000 gaming library stolen from them though. I also don't expect 13 year olds to behave like they are 30.
I mean just look at Valve's message.
I've Been Banned
Question
I receive the error "Your connection to this secure server has been rejected. Because of past cheating violations, you have been banned from playing on all secure servers." when attempting to join a server - what does it mean?
Answer
This message indicates that your account has been banned by the Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) system for cheating. There are several important considerations for VAC-banned accounts:
Steam Support cannot remove the ban on your account
Regardless of who was using your account at the time it was banned, the use and security of your Steam account is your responsibility.
The details of the ban will not be provided
Steam Support will not disclose the cheats that were detected running on your system or the date and time the infraction took place. Any requests for this information will be ignored.
VAC may not ban you immediately - the cheating violation may have occurred days or even weeks before the ban is apparent on your account.
Your account may still be used to play single-player games and multiplayer games on unsecured servers
Your account may still be used to play single-player games or to connect to non-secure game servers and for games played over a LAN. To find non-secure servers, please change your filter settings in the server browser list to show servers which are not VAC-secured (from the Steam main menu go to the View option, select Servers and then select "Not secure" in the Anti-Cheat drop-down).
You can not transfer your games to a different account
Steam Support will not release your CD Key(s) to be used on other accounts. Do not register retail products or purchase new Steam subscriptions on a VAC banned account.
If you choose to purchase a new copy of the game, please register it or install it under a newly-created Steam account. Prior to installing, remove all cheats from your system - if you do not know how or where the cheats were installed, you may want to consider reformatting your hard drive(s) and starting over with a fresh installation of your operating system.
I am sure some people know darn well why they've been banned, and don't need the details. I am sure some behavior is unforgivable. I also sure no system is 100% accurate too. I have a lot more confidence with Stardock that if my account is hacked, something weird happens that their people might actually give a shit. I have no confidence Valve does. Use any search engine you want, there are a fair amount of posts about accounts being banned or disable (I am not even sure is there is a difference between being banned or disabled). Seems like some of the prepaid cards come up a bit because they can't be charged. If someone gifts you a game and that payment falls through it effects your account (although I can see how this could be used as an act of fraud I doubt steam looks into it real well),
Valve considers ALL chargebacks as "payment fraud" by the way.
Payment Fraud
Any fraudulent credit card use, credit card chargebacks, or Paypal chargebacks (regardless of when the transaction occurred).
Redeeming Fraudulent Gifts
Never accept a gift from an unknown user. Any accounts tied to a redeemed gift from a fraudulent source may be disabled.
Here is a link from the consumerist (they tend to verify their stories to some extent)
http://consumerist.com/2009/01/help-steam-randomly-charged-me-in-pounds-instead-of-dollars.html
Notice how they suggest a chargeback. I am sure The Consumerist didn't know at the time that a chargeback is pretty much throwing away your entire Steam account out the window with no recourse. I know chargebacks should be the last option but Valve just doesn't respond.